


Third First Meeting

by VulgarMaiden



Series: Secrets & Relationships [2]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: APTX 4869 Temporary Antidote, Canon Rewrite, M/M, POV Alternating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:14:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25971955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VulgarMaiden/pseuds/VulgarMaiden
Summary: Ran and Aoko get the brilliant idea to set their gay friends (Shin’ichi and Kaito) up with each other.(Contains small rewrite of episode 617)
Relationships: Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid
Series: Secrets & Relationships [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875922
Comments: 11
Kudos: 255





	1. In which the idea is born

-Ran-  
Being in London- a place that was very special to Shin'ichi- made Ran realize just how strange it was to _not_ think of him romantically anymore. Everything reminded her of him, but instead of resulting in any pain in her heart there was just a numb emptiness, like the spot he used to reside in was patiently waiting for any new love interest to come along. Was that really all he had been to her? A place holder?

No. He was still special. Which was why she felt so guilty about calling him earlier just to brag, and then snapping at him when he seemed so indifferent.

She slowed to a stop on the sidewalk. If she called him, she could apologize _and_ ask for his help with the mysterious note. It was obviously the right thing to do, but that didn't make it any less uncomfortable. Still, she pulled her phone out and took a deep breath as she found him in her contacts and hit call.

"Hello?"

"Shin'ichi? Sorry for calling at this time… I know it's only 5 AM in Japan," She said, hoping she hadn't woken him up.

"Ah, n-no! Don't worry about it. I've actually been awake," he assured her.

"I see… I wanted to apologize for earlier, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, I was just so excited about being in a place you've always wanted to go."

"It's fine, it didn't really bother me. I was busy at the time anyway."

"Well, that's good, I guess. In any case, there's a code I need your help with."

"Oh, Conan-kun already forwarded that code to me. I've been awake thinking about it, but the first line, 'the loud sound of a rolling bell', is where I'm stuck…"

The deep, echoing chime of a loud bell rang out through the London streets.

"That's it!" Shin'ichi exclaimed, "It's Big Ben!!"

"Big Ben…?" Ran turned around and looked at famous clock tower not too far from her. A delayed, muted echo of its chimes came through Shin'ichi's end of the call.

"You can hear it, right? Big Ben's chime, that's what it refers to!"

"Hold on… Shin'ichi, are you… _also_ in London??" Ran asked.

"Huh? N-no, I-."

"You are, aren't you! I can hear Big Ben through the phone! Why didn't you just tell me??"

"Ah- um, well-."

"If you're here we should meet up!"

"No!! Uh- I mean, I can't. I didn't want to tell you that I was here because I knew you'd want to hang out, but I can't. I'm too busy, and… I head back tomorrow morning anyway, so there's no time."

"Oh… alright," Ran sighed. The excitement that had swelled up in her chest at the thought of getting to see her friend deflated. It had been so long since the last time they had been able to properly hang out, and the times they did get to see each other seemed to be getting further and further apart.

"Sorry," Shin'ichi apologized, "I know I've been really busy a lot lately."

"That's for sure. You shouldn't work yourself to death, you know," Ran chided.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

"Oh! I completely forgot I was in the middle of looking for Conan-kun! I gotta go, I'll talk to you later!"

They ended their call, and Ran resumed her search, feeling much better.

-Back in Japan, about a week later-  
-Conan-  
"Conan-kun," Ran's voice drew the shrunken teenager's attention away from his elementary school homework. "Would you like to see Kuroba-kun again?"

"Kaito-niichan…?" Conan asked, feeling his heart rate quicken.

"Yep. I'm going over to Aoko-chan's house for a few hours, and she said Kuroba-kun wouldn't mind hanging out with you again. You two had a lot of fun together, didn't you?"

"Y-yeah… um, okay, I'll go!" Conan smiled, attempting to mask his nervousness with his childish persona.

Of _course_ he was thrilled to be able to see Kuroba-kun again, but he was worried about being able to act 'normal' around him. It had been so natural before he had realized his feelings, but now… there was a high probability of getting flustered and accidentally embarrassing himself.

He sighed heavily as he thought about it while following Ran out of the detective agency. His feelings for _her_ had never been so troublesome.

-  
Immediately inside the front door of the Nakamori household, Conan could see Kuroba-kun sitting at the dinning table, shuffling a deck of cards. The magician smiled and greeted them- his handling of the cards not faltering for a second, even with his attention divided- as Aoko-san lead them into the conjoined living room and kitchen area. 

Conan's heart fluttered. In the couple weeks that had passed since they first met, he had considered the possibility that his memories might be a little… 'rose-colored', but Kuroba-kun was just as handsome and skilled as he remembered! He opened his mouth, about to greet the other teenage boy with a bright, "Hi, Kaito-niichan!" but was abruptly cut off by-

"Hi! We didn't meet properly last time. I'm Mouri Ran," Ran introduced herself in her usual polite manner.

"I'm Kuroba Kaito," the magician said with a casual, friendly smile, finally setting the deck of cards down. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too…" Ran trailed off, squinting ever-so-slightly and leaning closer to inspect his face.

"Um…" Kuroba-kun leaned back, visibly tense, "Is something wrong?"

"Sorry!" Ran apologized, backing out of his personal space. "You just… _really_ look like my friend."

"Friend?" Aoko-san spoke up, "Is it the friend you told Aoko about? Kudou-kun?"

"Yeah! The two of them are practically identical," Ran said.

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about that… Kudou Shin'ichi, would you?" Kuroba-kun asked, "I've seen him on tv before, and I've gotta admit, we do look alike."

 _He knows about me?_ Excitement spiked in Conan's chest.

"What do you think about Shin'ichi-niichan?" He asked, looking up at the magician with an expression of innocent curiosity.

-Kaito-  
_Is this guy searching for an ego-boost or something?_ Kaito thought, internally raising an eyebrow. Externally, he reached a hand out to ruffle the detective's hair.

"I don't think I can really form an opinion about him from just seeing him on the news," He said.

The detective stiffened slightly under the magician's hand, and Kaito could've sworn he notice his face flush a couple shades pinker.

-Ran-  
Ran sat cross-legged on her friend's bed, laughing so hard she could feel the burn in her abs. Aoko-chan was telling her stories of all the best pranks Kuroba-kun had pulled at their school.

"There's no way he actually did that!" Ran exclaimed through her laughter.

"It's true! Aoko was forced to go to detention with him because he got her involved!"

"Your life seems so much more fun than mine," Ran sighed when she was able to breath properly. "My class is more likely to run into a murder."

Aoko-chan's face contorted into an expression of perturbed horror. "That's awful!! How many times has that happened?!"

"Well… only once actually, on a ski trip."

"That‘a still more than the average person would ever run in to," Aoko-chan said, looking a little sick.

"Really?" Ran tilted her head slightly. "I run into way more mysteries outside of school…"

Her friend's eyes widened. "Ran-chan's life seems scary…" she murmured in almost a whisper.

"Well, how many murders have you witnessed?" Ran asked, tilting her head in genuine curiosity.

" _Zero_!"

"Oh…" In hindsight it was only natural that the average person had never actually seen someone die right in front of them. Ran was getting too accustomed to people dropping dead everywhere she went. "Must be the curse of hanging around detectives all the time…" she sighed.

Aoko-chan shifted uncomfortably on her bed, eager to change the subject. "Speaking of detectives… how is everything going with Kudou-kun?"

"Hm? You mean because of the whole 'gay' thing?" Ran asked. Aoko-chan was the only person she had told. Kazuha-chan, of course, already knew, and Shin'ichi had specifically requested she _not_ tell Sonoko (yet), because Sonoko knowing was basically equivalent to the whole school knowing. Her friend nodded.

"Everything's fine between us," Ran said. "In fact, I'd even say our friendship has gotten better. There used to be this… 'tension' between us that I didn't even notice until it was gone. Like we were both holding our breath, waiting, trying to communicate through extremely vague hints, hoping the other would just magically understand everything."

"Aoko's situation with Kaito has been very similar," the other girl said, nodding in understanding. "It feels like we can finally be open with other like when we were kids."

"Exactly!" Ran agreed. She was beyond grateful to have a friend that was going through the same thing she was. It made the whole thing that much easier.

Just then Aoko-chan started giggling to herself.

"What is it?" Ran asked, leaning forward.

"Aoko was just thinking about how funny it would be if Kaito and Kudou-kun ended up dating," the girl said through her laughter.

The thought was so absurd, Ran burst out laughing as well. "Do you think they're even each others' type?" She asked. "They seem _so_ different!"

"Well… they say opposites attract…" Aoko-chan mused. "Kaito has told Aoko that he likes smart guys…"

"Hmm… I've never asked Shin'ichi about his 'type' before… I wonder if he does like guys like Kuroba-kun…" Ran murmured, gazing thoughtfully up at the ceiling.

"Ran-chan should ask Kudou-kun! If Kaito _is_ his type, we should totally introduce them to each other!" Aoko said, becoming excited at the idea.

"Well…" Ran couldn't help but smile as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. The idea was growing on her more by the second. "I suppose it can't hurt…"

-Meanwhile-  
-Conan-  
The boys were sitting shoulder to shoulder- well, shoulder to bicep thanks to the height difference- on Kuroba's living room couch. Conan had his head craned slightly forward to watch the screen of the handheld console the magician was showing him a new game on.

The game genuinely looked really fun, but mostly Conan was just thrilled to have an excuse to sit so close to Kuroba that their arms touched. It seemed so cliché to get excited over something so small, but Conan was starting to realize just how accurate all those incredibly cliché things about crushes really were.

-Kaito-  
"Can you see okay like that?" Kaito asked, noticing the detective seemed to be holding his head at an uncomfortable angle.

"Yeah, I can see fine," Conan said.

"Are you sure?" A thought occurred to Kaito, a way to tease the detective just a _tiny_ bit. "You can sit in my lap if you want. That way we can both see," he offered.

As expected, Conan immediately reeled back, cheeks pink and shoulders tense. "Ah, wha- I, um, that's- uh-," he stumbled over his words, definitely not accepting the offer but… not nearly so quick to decline as Kaito had expected…

"Oh, come on. It's fine, isn't it?" Kaito said, taking a chance and pulling the smaller boy directly into his lap. Conan made a strange sound halfway between a gasp and an embarrassed yelp. "There, that's better, right?" Kaito said, suppressing a laugh, and resumed his game as if there was nothing out of the ordinary about the situation.

"Y-yeah…" Conan stammered.

-Conan-  
It's not like it was the first time he'd ever sat in someone's lap since getting shrunk, but it never got any less embarrassing. The fact that he had a crush on the person this time, and a very small part of him was actually, just a little bit excited, made it that much worse.

 _Surely he wouldn't do something like this if he knew who I was… right? Well, Kaitou Kid likes to tease me, but would he go this far?? It's possible…_ He sighed. _I can't believe I'm still thinking about this…_

"Is something wrong?" Kuroba asked, having heard the sigh. His voice didn't betray a single hint of teasing.

"Ah- No, I-."

"You can have a turn if you want."

"No, it's not that-." He was cut off by the sound of his cellphone ringing and immediately grasped the opportunity as an escape. "I need to take this!" He said, scrambling out of the magician's lap.

_Damn it, it's the Shin'ichi phone… I can't let Kuroba hear me use the voice changing bow tie…_

"I'm just gonna step outside for a moment!" He called back as he dashed out of the living room.

On the front steps, he held his phone to his ear and his bow tie to his mouth.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Shin'ichi," Ran's voice greeted him, "Are you busy right now?"

"Um… I was just in the middle of something," - _and aren't you also with a friend right now?_ \- "but I can talk for a minute."

"Okay, well, I just wanted to ask what kind of guys you're interested in."

"What kind of guys…" He trailed off as a hot blush overtook his cheeks. "Why are you asking about that all of a sudden?"

"I’m just curious, I guess…"

"Right… well…" Conan gazed up at the sky, his mind all too happy to think about Kuroba as he began to describe his interests. "I like guys that are… really fun to be around, guys that are talented, and smart, and… comfortable, but the _most_ important quality would probably be… kindness."

"I see… you mentioned talented," Ran said, "How would you feel about, for example… a magician?"

"Magician?" The word seemed to snap Conan out of his dreamy trance. _Why would she ask about that… unless…_ The heat returned to his face. "Uh, yeah, I mean, magicians are cool. I would date a magician," he said, growing increasingly flustered.

"Really?! How soon can you come back? There's someone you _have_ to meet!"

"I… don't think I can come back anytime soon… sorry."

"Are you _sure_?" Ran pried, "Not even for a small visit?"

"Not even for a small visit."

"Oh… that's too bad. Well… be sure to tell me if you do get a chance, okay?"

"Yeah, of course. Well… I should probably get back to what I was doing."

"Okay. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye."

-Kaito-  
Kaito hadn't meant to overhear anything. He had only followed the detective because he was curious if Tantei-kun would use that voice-changing bow tie of his to talk to someone as himself. Which turned out to be exactly the case. But just as he had been about to walk away, and let Shin'ichi have the rest of his conversation privately, he heard him say: "I like guys that are…"

Kaito immediately halted. _Tante-kun likes guys?_ He thought, holding his breath to listen as the detective listed off a couple traits that were pretty common for people to look for in partners. There was a pause while the other person spoke. Kaito considered leaving again, still not wanting to intrude on the detective's privacy, but then…

"Magician?" Tantei-kun said. The word made Kaito's blood run cold. Then came the blow that really knocked the wind out of him. "I would date a magician."

Kaito staggered away from the door and into the kitchen, going over that list of things the detective likes and realizing it sounded an awful lot like himself. Suddenly all of Conan-kun's odd behavior- the quick glances, the blushing, the occasional stammering- was beginning to make a lot more sense.

There was no time for him to adequately sift through and come to terms with what he'd learned. The front door opened, and his poker face immediately took over, shoving his thoughts aside with well-practiced ease. He opened the snack cupboards and- just as the detective was passing the kitchen- said, "Oh, you're done? Would you like some popcorn, cookies, chips, ice cream…?"

Tantei-kun entered the kitchen. "What kind of chips do you have?"

They got their snacks and drinks together and returned to the living room to continue playing games. Kaito, curious about his new discovery, decided to put a pause on teasing the detective, and instead observe how he reacted to their casual interactions.

It took awhile, but eventually Conan-kun relaxed and opened up again, similar to how he'd been the first time they'd hung out. After a good hour of laughter and energetic conversation, Kaito began experimenting.

First he leaned just a little too close to watch the detective play. Then he intentionally bumped their hands together when they both reached for more chips at the same time, and commented on how small Conan-kun's hands were. He held his own hand up for them to compare. Tantei-kun was visibly tense and flustered as he pressed his hand against the magician's palm. And finally, towards the end of their time together, Kaito used his thumb to wipe some crumbs off the corner of the detective's mouth. The evidence was crystal clear. Conan-kun absolutely had a crush on him.

-  
After Mouri-chan and Conan-kun left, Kaito found himself at his computer, typing 'Kudou Shin'ichi' into the search bar. He had looked up pictures of the detective before, to reference for disguises. This time, however, he gazed at the images and wondered… what it might be like to be in a relationship with him.

_Well, he is pretty damn hot…_


	2. The Technically-not-a-Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated tags

-Conan-  
"You've been acting despondent all day," Haibara spoke up in response to Conan half-heartedly kicking a pebble as they walked along the sidewalk. "I thought you were happy about getting to see that guy again."

The two of them were headed to the Professor's house, having just gotten out of school for the day. The other Detective Boys had already broken off in the direction of their own homes.

"I was, but it won't matter how many times I meet him as _Conan_ , there's no chance of him returning my feelings like this," He paused to sigh, "The worst part is, Ran actually wants to introduce me- as Shin'ichi- to Kuroba-kun, but obviously…" He trailed off.

"I see… You had to turn down perhaps your only opportunity to meet the guy of your dreams as yourself."

"Exactly…" He mumbled, hanging his head forward.

They walked on in silence for a few seconds, then Haibara gave a thoughtful hum. Conan looked up.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Nothing," she said.

"You were thinking of something, weren't you?" He pried.

She frowned slightly and furrowed her brows, contemplating whether or not to tell him.

"Well… when you went to London, I gave the Professor an extra antidote to hold on to in case you did something stupid, but you didn't end up needing it, which I was very relieved about-."

"Wait, so what you're saying is, you were willing to let me potentially take _three_ of the antidotes instead of just two??" Conan asked, a tiny spark of hope igniting in his chest.

"Technically…"

The detective immediately clasped his hands together and held them up by his face. "Please, please, _please_ let me use that extra antidote to meet him!! I'll only need one!!"

Haibara frowned. "You can _not_ get used to using the antidotes for personal reasons," she said, giving him an annoyed glare. "Not to mention, you don't even know if he'll be interested in you. It could be a complete waste."

"Maybe…" Conan admitted, glancing down at the sidewalk, "but… there's also a chance he might like me." He paused to take a slow, deep breath, then looked over at his friend. "Please, Haibara, let me find out which one it is."

The girl groaned. It was _impossible_ to say no to such a heartfelt request. "Oh… fine." She sighed.

"Really?! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!" Conan exclaimed, "I have to tell Ran immediately!"

They turned into the gateway of the Professor's house, and Conan ran ahead, eager to make the plans.

Inside, Conan paced around the living room, taking deep breaths to calm himself down in order to not sound overly excited on the phone. When he was ready, he prepared his bow tie and called Ran.

"Shin'ichi? What's up?"

"Hey, Ran, I just found out I actually have the opportunity to go back to Beika for a day," he said.

"Really?! When?" She asked, excitement audible in her voice.

"Um… I don't have a specific date set yet… my schedule is kind of 'fluid'. What day works for you?"

"Hmm… if we're going to introduce you to Kuroba-kun I'll need to coordinate with Aoko-chan…"

"Kuroba-kun…" Conan said, pretending to think for a second. "Is he that magician you mentioned?"

"Yeah! I think you'll really like him! And don't worry, it won't be a date. He doesn't even have to know this is a potentially romantic thing," she assured him.

"Yeah… I think it would be best to just meet him under friendly circumstances for now…"

"Okay! I'll talk to Aoko-chan and get back to you."

"Okay."

-Kaito-  
When Aoko asked Kaito if he wanted go with her to meet one of Ran's friends, he initially assumed she was talking about Suzuki-chan, but then she mentioned it was a male friend, and he became confused. In all of the time he'd spent researching and observing in preparation for heists, he'd never seen Mouri-chan hang out with any guys, except for…

"It… wouldn't happen to be that Kudou Shinichi, would it?" He asked, internally furrowing his brows, despite remaining calm and indifferent on the outside.

"You guessed it!" Aoko smiled. "Kudou-kun is going to be back for just one day."

"If he's only going to be back for one day, wouldn't Mouri-san want to hang out with him one-on-one?"

Aoko shook her head. "The more the merrier, right? It'll be fun!"

Kaito gave his friend a skeptical look. This was _definitely_ some kind of romantic set up disguised as a casual hangout, but he was curious how Kudou Shinichi was going to make an appearance given his circumstances… and he had been thinking about the detective a lot ever since learning about his feelings…

"Well… alright, why not," he shrugged. Aoko excitedly went to call Mouri-chan back, meanwhile Kaito continued contemplating what he'd just agreed to. _Meeting Tantei-kun as his real self will be strange… I definitely can't risk slipping up and revealing that I've met him already…_ He took a deep breath and put the whole scenario into perspective. _It'll be just like meeting anyone else. On the surface there's nothing particularly special about it._

-The Technically-not-a-Date-  
-Shin'ichi-  
After Ran dropped Conan off at the Professor's house (where he- to her knowledge- would be staying while she was out with friends), he grabbed the antidote from Haibara and dashed through the backyard to his own house, entered through the backdoor, and bolted up to his room. There, he swallowed the pill and quickly changed out of his Conan clothes into the first normal clothes he could grab: sweatpants and a simple t-shirt.

Just as he was pulling his shirt on over his head, he heard a knock on his bedroom door.

"Shin'ichi? Are you in there?" Ran asked.

"Ah- Yeah!" He answered, swiftly kicking Conan's clothes under his bed.

The door opened and Ran entered. She smiled and opened her mouth to say something before she noticed what he was wearing and her expression fell.

"You're not dressed yet?" She asked.

"Uh- Well, I was… just trying to pick something out," he said quickly.

A knowing smile tugged at the corners of Ran's mouth. "You don't have to think about it too hard, you know. This isn't _technically_ a date after all," she said in a reassuring tone. "Aoko-chan and I will be there too, so if things get awkward we can help keep the conversation going."

"Right… I know." Shin'ichi tried to shrug off the awkwardness, turning his attention to his closet instead.

"Any nice pair of jeans and clean shirt will be fine," Ran suggested, "I'll wait downstairs for you, okay?"

"Okay," he said, and about five minutes later, he joined her downstairs wearing jeans and a striped t-shirt under a zip-up hoodie.

-Kaito-  
The café was brightly lit and decorated in a way that almost made it feel like an old lady's house. There were watercolor paintings of flowers on the walls and most of the furniture was antique. All of the other patrons had their heads down, quietly minding their own business. It was peaceful and cozy, exactly the type of atmosphere even Kaito was hesitant to disrupt with his usual chaos. In other words, Aoko _definitely_ chose that place on purpose.

From their spot at a table by the back, they heard the bell above the door ring, and looked up to see Mouri-chan and Kudou-kun entering. Aoko excitedly waved them over.

"Hi, guys!" Mouri-chan smiled brightly as she took the seat across from Aoko. "This is Shin'ichi, the friend I told you about." She gestured to him as he sat down in the remaining seat across from Kaito.

"Hey," he greeted them with casual, friendly smile. Kaito smiled back, taking the opportunity to observe the detective's face. It was like looking in a mirror, which made Kaito feel a _little_ narcissistic because Kudou-kun was even more attractive in person.

"Nice to meet you, Kudou-kun!" Aoko smiled, "I'm Nakamori Aoko, and this is Kuroba Kaito."

Habit kicked in. Kaito felt himself extending his hand out over the table before it even registered in his mind what he was doing. His own thoughts from before echoed in his mind. _This is just like meeting anyone else._ A flash of horror flickered through his mind. It was already too late. He had no choice but to roll with it.

"It's nice to meet you… too…" Kudou-kun said politely, trailing off at the end as his attention was drawn to Kaito's hand.

A single, red rose burst out from the magician's fingers. The detective flinched back in his chair, shoulders tensing as a bright blush overtook his face. Mouri-chan's eyes widened in surprise, and Aoko simply sighed and shook her head in dismay.

"The pleasure's all mine~," Kaito said, flashing a charming smile.

Kudou-kun seemed petrified for a moment, staring at the rose in shock. Then he cleared his throat- the blush on his cheeks deepening- and stiffly accepted the flower, with an awkward, "Um, thanks…"

Kaito gave an awkward laugh, hoping to diffuse the tension surrounding their table. "Sorry if that was too forward," he apologized, smiling sheepishly and rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's fine," Kudou-kun said, doing his best to appear indifferent as he unceremoniously shoved the flower into his hoodie pocket just before a waitress arrived at their table to take their orders.

A few minutes of light conversations later they all had drinks in front of them. Raspberry tea for Aoko, green tea for Mouri-chan, iced coffee for Kudou-kun, and hot cocoa for Kaito.

Kudou-kun cleared his throat, disrupting the momentary silence that had fallen over them while they sipped their drinks. "Um, Conan-kun told me you like some detective novels," he said, looking up at Kaito.

"Oh, yeah," the magician shrugged, "I'm not an enthusiast or anything, but I do enjoy mysteries." Kudou-kun smiled and visibly relaxed now that they were in familiar territory. "Speaking of mysteries," Kaito continued, "do you have any good stories of _real_ ones you've solved?"

"Of course!" Kudou-kun's face lit up and he sat a bit straighter in his chair. Kaito and Aoko listened intently as he began telling them about a particularly interesting one. By the end, Aoko was holding her hands over her mouth in a prolonged gasp, and even Kaito was wide-eyed. Detectives sure had a tendency to get into some pretty serious danger…

"That's a pretty old one, isn't it?" Mouri-chan said, setting her teacup back on the saucer with a gentle clink. "I would think you'd have tons of new stories considering how long you've been gone."

"Ah- Of course, I do, but a lot of them are confidential," Kudou-kun lied quickly.

Kaito hid his knowing smile behind his mug as he drained the last of his cocoa.

-Shin'ichi-  
Everything was going well so far. Sure, it had been awkward at first, but Shin'ichi could tell there was a connection between Kuroba and himself. There was something small in the way the magician looked at him, something Shin'ichi couldn't quite place, but it made him feel… comfortable, like Kuroba really understood him.

"So… Kudou-kun, do you have any other hobbies besides detective work?" Kuroba asked as they left the café, having finished their drinks.

"I like soccer," Shin'ichi said, "I used to be on the soccer team at school-."

"Yeah! He was the star player!" Ran added, glancing back at them from where she and Nakamori-san were walking ahead of them.

"Really? That's so cool!" The other girl said.

"Aoko," Kuroba said suddenly, "Didn't you say you had something to buy while we were out? You two can go shopping. Kudou-kun and I will be fine here."

"Oh! That's right!" Nakamori-san exclaimed. "Come on!" She said, grabbing Ran's wrist and pulling her faster down the sidewalk. Ran glanced back at Shin'ichi. He gave her a reassuring nod, and she went off with her friend.

When the girls were gone, Kuroba gave a small sigh of relief. "There's a park up ahead," he said, looking over at Shin'ichi, "let's go find a place to sit down."

As nice as it had been for the girls to try to help, it was much more natural with just the two of them. On the grass, under the cool shade of a large tree, they sat and began chatting about every little random topic that crossed their minds. They shared stories of their various shenanigans from school, and even touched on the fact that their parents had known each other. They laughed, and teased each other, and had friendly arguments over incredibly insignificant things like the best flavor of ice cream.

As Shin'ichi was laughing at a joke Kuroba had made, he noticed the magician tilt his head and regard him with a curious expression.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Sorry, it's nothing, I just- for a second there I could've sworn I saw a bit of Conan-kun in you," Kuroba said.

Shin'ichi laughed awkwardly. "Oh, that's strange. I mean, I know he and I look very similar- despite the age difference, obviously."

"Yeah, your personalities are very similar too." The magician looked at him without a hint of suspicion in his eyes. "Are you two related?"

"Uh, distantly… yeah."

"That's cool. Are you the one who taught him about detective stuff? He's remarkably smart for a kid," Kuroba said, seeming genuinely intrigued.

"Yeah, most of it, I did," Shin'ichi nodded. _Right now it really feels like Kuroba truly doesn't have any idea that I'm Conan…_ He thought, plucking blades of grass out of the ground and fidgeting with them. _Then again… it's almost too perfect…_

"What are you thinking about?" Kuroba asked, bringing the detective out of his own head.

"Hm? Oh, um… I was thinking about something else Conan-kun mentioned about you…"

"And what would that be?"

"Your similarities to Kaitou Kid, and how some people suspect you of being him," Shin'ichi answered.

"Ah, yes… of course," Kuroba sighed and gazed down at the grass with a faraway look in his eyes. "Well, what do _you_ think, Detective?" He asked.

"Well… _I've_ never met Kid in person, so I couldn't say, but… even if you are Kaitou Kid, I think you're pretty cool." Shin'ichi gave a nonchalant shrug and smiled.

"Even if…" Kuroba echoed softly, and Shin'ichi could've sworn he caught the tiniest hint of surprise flicker over the magician's face, but it was immediately replaced by a cheeky smirk. "Aww~, that's so sweet!" He teased.

The detective felt warmth wash over his face and his heart began to beat a little faster. "Oh, shut up," he said, making no attempt to hide his smile even as he rolled his eyes.

"Well… this definitely won't help my case, but…" Kuroba reached into his pocket and pulled out a blank strip of notepad paper and a pen. "Are you any good with codes, Detective?"

"Codes? Of course." Shin'ichi leaned forward to watch the magician write a line of symbols across the paper, using his knee as a flat surface.

"Here," Kuroba said, handing the paper over. Then he stood up, brushed grass off his jeans, and began walking back towards the street. "Text me when you solve it, okay?"

"Text you?" Shin'ichi glanced up from the paper. In the distance, the girls could be seen walking towards them, having finished their shopping. Kuroba looked back at him and simply flashed that way-too-cute smirk again. Shin'ichi's eyes flickered down to the paper in his hand. "O-oh!" He got to his feet and followed after the magician to meet up with the girls. As he slipped the paper into his hoodie pocket his fingers brushing against the rose that was nestled in there as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 3 will include a handful of rewrites of more episodes, and will focus on both of them working up the courage to tell each other their secrets.


End file.
